Chapter 7

On the way to Mahea's house, they talked more about school, music, and theatre. Mahea told Seth that she started getting interested in theatre about two years before she left Hawaii. She joined a local theatre youth group and was in a few small productions. Seth explained to Mahea about how he started acting instead of going to his wrestling practice, and how Shane soon took over the theatre. They reached Mahea's house, and she took Seth inside to meet her family, even though she wasn't planning on doing this at first, but she went through with it anyway.

"Hi mom, hi dad." Mahea said, walking into the kitchen. Her mom turned around to see Mahea standing with a tall, blond boy at her side. "This is Seth." She introduced them to Seth. "Seth this is my mom and dad, Sheryl and Terry."

Seth shook hands with both her parents. "It's nice to meet you." He said to them, smiling.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you too Seth." Mrs. Akana said pleasantly.

"Same here." Mr. Akana said. Being a father, he wasn't as 'open' with boys as his wife was.

Kahi came down stairs and strutted into the kitchen. "Hey guys."

"Oh, this is my older brother, Kahi." Mahea said, and Seth shook hands with Kahi.

"Hey." They said to each other, then Kahi went on with his business and got a drink from the fridge.

"So," Mrs. Akana began to say. "Did you two have a good time at the movies?" She asked.

Mahea and Seth looked at each other and nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty good." Mahea said.

"What'd you see?" Mr. Akana asked.

"Batman Begins." Seth answered. "And this time they didn't really mess up the storyline." He added.

"Yeah, it was pretty decent." Mahea agreed.

Mrs. Akana smiled. "Well, I'm glad you two had a good time."

"Well, I better get going." Seth said.

Mahea nodded. "I'll see you out."

"It was nice meeting all of you." Seth said.

"Nice to meet you too." Mrs. Akana said, Kahi and Mr. Akana nodded at Seth and watched Seth and Mahea walk out the front door.

"Your family seems nice." Seth commented, stepping out of her house.

Mahea nodded. "Yeah, once you get used to them." She said. They stood there for several moments, not saying anything. "I had a good time today." Mahea said.

Seth nodded. "Me too." He shifted his weight to his other foot, and stuck his hands in his jeans pocket. "Umm, Mahea," He said. "I was wondering…"

She looked at him. "Yeah?"

Seth cleared his throat. "Well, if you would, maybe, if you'd wanna," He said, and took a deep breath. "If you'd wanna go out, sometime?" He asked her.

"You mean like, on a date?" She asked, smiling.

"Yeah, like a date." He nodded, looking at her, waiting for her answer.

Mahea smiled. "But this was a date."

Seth looked at her and smiled and let out a deep breath. "You're right, it was." Then, to Seth's surprise, Mahea lightly kissed him on the lips, then smiled.

"I'll talk to you later." She smiled, then opened her door. "Bye." She said.

In shock, Seth raised his hand and slowly waved goodbye, watching her walk in her house. He stood there for several moments, thinking about what just happened. He slowly turned around and headed home. The whole way home, he replayed the whole day in his head, excluding the part with Troy in it. He could still see and smell Mahea when she kissed him, and he didn't want to ever forget that.

At dinner that night, Mahea sat down with her family, and they asked her some things about Seth.

"So, was that the boy?" Mr. Akana asked her.

Mahea nodded. "Yeah, the one I told you guys about." She said, drinking her water.

"And are you sure he's not…?" Mrs. Akana asked, looking at Mahea.

Mahea dropped her fork on her plate. "Mom, no." She said. "I wouldn't go to the movies with him if it was Seth." She said, somewhat offended that her mom thought that way about Seth.

"Well, are you sure though?" Kahi asked, stuffing some chicken in his mouth. "I mean, he could just be acting. You did say he was into theatre." He said, making her parents look at her, thinking that what Kahi said was right.

"I'm sure." Mahea answered, glaring at Kahi. She turned to her parents. "It's not Seth, trust me."

Mr. and Mrs. Akana looked at each, wanting to believe Sam.

"Besides," Mahea said, before anyone else could voice their opinion. "Shane is friends with Seth and his family. Shane helped Seth's family out a couple years ago. I'm pretty sure Shane would warn me if it was Seth, which it isn't." Mahea told them.

"So you're saying Shane knows it's not Seth?" Mr. Akana asked for reassurance.

Mahea nodded. "I'm sure." She replied. "Don't worry, I'm working on it, and I'm being careful." Mahea said, as they continued to eat their dinner.

"So?" Julie asked, pouring Tyler a cup of water at the dinner table. "How'd it go?" She asked Seth.

Seth smiled. "It was pretty good." He said, looking at his plate, smiling and thinking about Mahea.

"Oh my gosh!" Zoe exclaimed, out of the blue.

Everyone looked at her, startled. "What?" Lulu asked her.

Zoe smiled at Seth. "I know what happened!"

Seth looked at her. "What? I told you, we went to the movies, then got ice cream. We played some games at Fun Factory, then I walked her home." He said, playing it cool.

Zoe grinned. "Mmhmm, but I know what happened once you got to her house." She said.

"I met her parents?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, that, but after that…" Zoe smirked. Seth knew that Zoe somehow knew Mahea kissed her by the look on her face, and he started fidgeting in his seat.

Julie looked at Zoe. "What happened?"

"Yeah, what happened?" Lulu echoed.

"Should I tell them, or you?" Zoe teased.

Seth looked around the table. "Nothing happened." He said, making it quite obvious something actually did happen.

"She kissed you! Didn't she!" Zoe exclaimed loudly.

They all turned to Seth. "Did she?" Julie asked, getting excited.

"But I thought she already kissed you?" Lulu asked, somewhat confused.

"Yeah, but that was on the cheek." Zoe clarified. "But this one was on the lips!" She smiled.

"Well?" Julie asked Seth, anticipating his answer.

"Okay fine!" He said. "Yes, she did kiss me." He said, annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. His mom and his sisters all let out a scream of excitement for him at that exact moment.

Julie got up and moved towards Seth and hugged him. "Oh I'm so happy for you Seth!" She said, tightening her grip around him.

"Mom!" He said, trying to break free.

"Aww, Seth is finally growing up." Zoe teased, laughing.

Tyler clapped his hands, and Peter started to chuckle.

Once Julie finally let go of Seth, he took in a deep breath. "What's the big deal, we're not even going out." He told them, straightening his shirt.

"So?" Zoe replied. "It's a step towards going out." She explained. "Trust me, this girl obviously like you, a lot." She smiled.

"Does this mean Seth has a girlfriend?" Peter asked, smiling.

Lulu shook her head. "Not yet, but soon, I think."

"C'mon, it was just one kiss. It didn't mean anything." Seth said, playing with his food. Even though he told his family that it didn't mean anything, it meant a lot to him inside. That was his first real kiss from a girl.

For the rest of the night, his sisters and mom kept bugging him about Mahea, wanting to know when they'd get to meet her. Seth told them anything to leave him alone, and agreed to ask Mahea over one day after school so that they could meet him.

As Seth was getting ready to go to bed, he thought about whether he should call Mahea the next day. But then he thought that might seem a little desperate. He didn't even know if they were officially going out or not. He wanted to, but he didn't want to rush into anything. He wasn't that experienced with girls, and he especially didn't want to do anything too embarrassing in front of Mahea. He fell asleep quickly, thinking about Mahea's smile and that she had given him his first kiss.